USC vs. UCLA: 10 years of rivalry on the front page
USC will host crosstown rival UCLA on Saturday, with the right to play for the Pac-12 Conference championship on the line.
The Trojans lead the overall series with the Bruins (44-31-7), with victories vacated from 2004 and 2005, but UCLA has won the last three games in a row since Jim Mora took over the program.
With just days until the teams meet at the Coliseum, let's take a moment to check out The Times' sports section covers and game stories from the last 10 years.
2005: No. 1 USC 66, No. 11 UCLA 19
Their Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback was out of sync, his timing and mechanics lost in a flood of pregame tears.
USC had anticipated that Matt Leinart would be emotional in his final game at the Coliseum, but not overcome as he was at the start of Saturday's game against rival UCLA.
No problem for the top-ranked Trojans.
They did what any college football team would love to do.
They turned to this year's probable Heisman winner.
In what might have been his last game at the Coliseum, junior tailback Reggie Bush rushed for 260 yards and two touchdowns as the Trojans ran over, around and through 11th-ranked UCLA in the 75th edition of the crosstown rivalry, winning, 66-19, before a sellout crowd of 92,000. More>>
2006: UCLA 13, No. 2 USC 9
In the moment it took Eric McNeal to leap high and tip a pass, the fate of two college football rivals hung dramatically in the balance.
Underdog UCLA was holding a slim lead over a USC team driving toward the end zone.
And then, with just over a minute left on Saturday at the Rose Bowl, McNeal jumped and got his hand on USC quarterback John David Booty's pass.
With a sold-out crowd of 90,622 holding its collective breath, the linebacker stretched his arms and cradled the ball for an interception that clinched UCLA's stunning 13-9 upset over the second-ranked Trojans in the 76th meeting between the crosstown rivals.
"I know how important this win is to the Bruin family," UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell said, beaming. "I know that it's been a long time." More>>
2007: No. 8 USC 24, UCLA 7
The contrast in their exit strategies told the story better than perhaps anything that happened on the Coliseum field Saturday afternoon.
Embattled UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell stared stonily ahead, a phalanx of security officers trailing in his wake as he made his way to the tunnel and the possible end of his tenure with the Bruins.
A few minutes later, a grinning USC Coach Pete Carroll bounded toward the locker room, a brief stop on his way to another season-ending date for the Trojans in the Rose Bowl.
"We were in command the whole time," a beaming Carroll said without breaking stride.
Eighth-ranked USC's 24-7 victory over the Bruins before 91,553 avenged last year's crushing upset to its crosstown rivals and earned the Trojans a share of their sixth consecutive Pacific 10 Conference title. More>>
2008: No. 5 USC 28, UCLA 7
The gash on Mark Sanchez's jaw, not quite as wide as the grin on his face, pretty much told the story.
The USC quarterback and his teammates came into the Rose Bowl on Saturday knowing they couldn't do much to shake up the rankings.
And they certainly couldn't reverse an early-season loss that by all accounts has cost them a spot in the national championship game.
So the fifth-ranked Trojans went about their business in what has become routine fashion, pounding out a 28-7 victory over UCLA in the annual crosstown rivalry and earning a return trip to Pasadena on New Year's Day.
"A couple scars, a couple bumps and bruises to prove it," Sanchez said. "That's what this game is all about." More>>
2009: No. 24 USC 28, UCLA 7
The USC-UCLA football rivalry, never lacking for compelling plot points, just got a lot more interesting.
Borrowing a style used against him two weeks ago, USC Coach Pete Carroll poured it on an already beaten UCLA in the final minute at the Coliseum on Saturday night.
Up by two touchdowns and with the ball and game in hand, USC scored on a long pass to make the final score 28-7 before a crowd of 85,713.
"It's just the heart of a competitor, just battling," Carroll said.
UCLA had just called a timeout, and would have used two more to try to get USC to punt and get the ball back.
But on the next play, USC quarterback Matt Barkley faked a handoff into the line, stepped back, and found Damian Williams with a 48-yard bomb for a touchdown that nearly led to a brawl between the teams after players left the bench area and went onto the field. More>>
2010: USC 28, UCLA 14
Maybe a year without bowl games wasn't such a bad idea for USC and UCLA. There was little the Bruins and Trojans did Saturday night at the Rose Bowl that seemed to scream "encore."
But what an evening of gaffes did was reaffirm the pecking order in the city. USC, as it has done 11 times after the last 12 meetings, will spend the year on top of the L.A. heap following a 28-14 victory over UCLA.
Allen Bradford finished his Trojans' career with a career night, scoring the Trojans final two touchdowns to keep the "victory bell" in South Los Angeles.
Bradford had 212 yards rushing, including a 73-yard touchdown run with 3 minutes 31 seconds left, and also scored 47-yard pass play on which he did most of the work to give USC a 21-7 lead with 11:17 left.
It was a triumphant finish to a career that never seemed to hit full speed. More>>
2011: No. 10 USC 50, UCLA 0
UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel said this week that the Bruins had "closed the gap" with USC.
After the 81st game between the rivals Saturday night, the gap remains wider than the Coliseum.
Wider than the roughly 10 miles that separate the campuses.
More like the Grand Canyon.
USC's 50-0 victory marked the 12th time in 13 games that the Trojans had defeated the Bruins and might portend the end of the Neuheisel era in Westwood.
UCLA can call itself the Pac-12 South Division champion and, at 6-6 overall and 5-4 in conference play, will head to Oregon's Autzen Stadium to play in the inaugural Pac-12 title game on Friday. More>>
2012: No. 17 UCLA 38, No. 21 USC 28
This was a voice long muffled.
UCLA's defense took the field with 40 seconds left. A victory over USC was in hand. The echo throughout the Rose Bowl was "U … C … L … A," a fan chant often left in cold storage against the Trojans for more than a decade.
"That gave me goose bumps," linebacker Eric Kendricks said. "I started smiling."
There was a lot for the Bruins to grin about after a 38-28 victory Saturday.
UCLA (9-2 overall, 6-2 in Pac-12) clinched the Pac-12 South Division championship and will play in the conference title game Nov. 30 for a spot in the Rose Bowl.
USC's five-game winning streak in the series came to an end.
The Trojans (7-4, 5-4) were left to line up for bowl games with one of those long names — the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, perhaps? More>>
2013: No. 22 UCLA 35, No. 23 USC 14
After UCLA players made their way up the Coliseum tunnel Saturday night, Bruins Coach Jim Mora gathered his team outside the locker room and made a pronouncement.
"We own L.A.!" Mora shouted.
Quarterback Brett Hundley, kick returner Ishmael Adams and a tough Bruins defense that forced two turnovers had just led No. 22 UCLA to a 35-14 victory over No. 23 USC in the 83rd game between the crosstown rivals.
"It was awesome," linebacker Anthony Barr said. "It's our city and it will be that way for a while."
UCLA shared the Coliseum with USC until 1981, but the Bruins had struggled at the venue for more than a decade.
No longer. The Bruins won at the Coliseum for the first time since 1997, ending a streak of seven losses that included a 50-0 beatdown two years ago. More>>
2014: No. 11 UCLA 38, No. 24 USC 20
Six years after an ill-advised ad campaign by UCLA's marketing department, the Bruins can say that they have ended one college football monopoly in Los Angeles.
And maybe that they have begun another: Theirs.
The Bruins' 38-20 victory over USC on Saturday evening gave them clear possession of the city. UCLA fans celebrated a third consecutive victory in the series by chanting “U-C-L-A” and players raced to the student section to celebrate.
“I can't lie, this feels great,” linebacker Eric Kendricks said.
USC's Pete Carroll years have been permanently assigned to history. The Trojans are on their second coach, plus two interim coaches, since Carroll left after the 2009 season.
On the other side, Jim Mora has resurrected a program that had an 82-81 record from 1999 to 2011. More>>
Want to go back? Click here to relive the glory years.
2005-09
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